The Timberwolves are big mad and making sure the Nuggets feel it

The Minnesota Timberwolves are the NBA's sleeping giant -- using the regular season as a hibernation period before coming out in full force once postseason play commenced.

They spent the entirety of the 2025-26 regular season just kind of lurking. They lost games they probably should have won, looked disinterest at times, and failed to post the kind of indicators you come to expect from a team preparing for a deep playoff run.

But they have also been listening. They heard all the noise. That the Western Conference was a three-team race, with the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Denver Nuggets as the top horses in the barn. When met with these comments, they simply laughed: It's like they forgot who the only constant in the Western Conference Finals has been over the last two years.

What we underestimated was their ability to ramp things up when games became more consequential. Yes, they don't have traditional championship pedigree, per se, but they do have big game pedigree. Remember, the list of stars they've vanquished over the last two years includes Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler III, and Stephen Curry (kind of).

Now, the second season has begun and their strutting around with their feathers on full display. Through three games, they hold a 2-1 one lead over the Nuggets (a team that they only had a 27.8 percent implied probability of beating before the series begun, per FanDuel), and their cushion feels even larger after completely manhandling them in Game 3.

The Timberwolves are taking it all personally

They are a team fueled by vengeance and scrutiny, as evidenced by these postgame comments by Jaden McDaniels after their Game 2 victory:

His teammate, Naz Reid, later revealed that McDaniels' words weren't a display of arrogance. Rather, it is a tool for motivation. And can you blame him? All season long, he has had to wrestle with folks praising other two-way maestros like OG Anunoby, the Thompson Twins, and his former teammate, Nickeil Alexander-Walker. McDaniels believes he is better than all of them. And so far, he is putting his money where his mouth is. Through three games, McDaniels is averaging 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while posting a solid 56 percent true shooting and making Murray's existence absolutely miserable.

Speaking of Alexander-Walker, while he is having a fine season (and will probably win the Most Improved Player Award), his replacement, Ayo Dosunmu, gives the Timberwolves offense a level of freneticism they never had before. In Game 3, he tallied 25 points and nine assists in 32 minutes of action. The Timberwolves were a plus-11 when he was on the floor.

Rudy Gobert has spent all season being overshadowed by the new guard of elite rim protectors, the likes of Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren. But they don't yet boast his illustrious body of work, and even at 33 years old, he is still just as good at what he does as anyone. Just ask Jokić, who is currently 12-for-35 (34.3 percent) on shots defended by Gobert in the postseason (per NBA.com).

Gobert's defense is clearly a statement after he was left out of the top-three finalists for Defensive Player of the Year, an award he had already won four times. He was clear that he felt disrespected and he took it out on Jokić.

Karl-Anthony Towns is no longer there, but Julius Randle is filling his place in his own way. While not quite the spacer, he adds value through his bully-ball style and ability to alleviate ball handling duties from his soon-to-be discussed co-star's shoulders, and he is defending his tail off in this series.

And then there is Anthony Edwards. To the casual observer, he still looks like the budding star who, in the past, took over games with his absurd combination of strength and athleticism. But he's much more than that now. His possession-by-possession decision making is sharper. His feel for when to take over and when to defer is more natural. He is now the leader this organization always imagined he could be when they took him first overall in 2020 NBA Draft.

This Timberwolves team is one that lives for the moment and feeds on being count out by the outside world, which makes them the kind of team that no one, especially the Nuggets, wants to play right now.

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